Speed Freak-Out Racer

Caught the 2:06 showing of SPEED RACER at the Grove (ugh). Not too full, but then, this is a film for kids. Normally I would be esthetically opposed to the uber-ADD tone of SPEED RACER, but because the Wachowski’s have hearts and brains and understand the anime landscape — in fact, the first example of “bullet-time” effect is in the opening credits of the cartoon as the camera moves around Speed jumping from the Mach 5. I’m willing to go with them to the mad places the film takes us and the film starts out strong. I was sold the second a very young Speed, trapped in a classroom, imagines himself racing among cartoon scrawls, one of the most delightful movie moments I’ve seen in awhile. It not only pulls you into his character, it helps pull you into the hyper-stylized neon world that crosses a 1960’s retro-verse with a 21st century CG palette. It’s an accelerated recreation of Tatsuo Yoshida’s cartoon version, gussied up to take full advantage of a huge budget. Plus, there’s a monkey.

Like I said, SPEED RACER was my favorite cartoon as a young child along with GIGANTOR. I knew these weren’t American shows as the art and animation was so much more dynamic, imaginative. And people died. Here, the Wachowski’s have attempted something big and visionary — some of it works; some of it doesn’t. The casting works fine with Emile Hirsch a perfect Speed, anxious and good-hearted. Matthew Fox does quite well as his brother Rex, who ran away from home years ago but is now secretly the mysterious Racer X (to be said in the style of the cartoon’s breathless American dubbing). John Goodman is damn near perfect as Pops Racer. Does this guy age? Susan Sarandon is well-cast as the understanding Mom. Christina Ricci makes a smart, sexy Trixie, and with her Walter Keane eyes, she’s already a human anime. As for Spriddle and Chim-Chim, they’re here and fairly funny. But then, monkeys are ze craziest peoples. Representing evil is auto tycoon Royalton, played with Tim Curry-esque fervor by Robert Allman. He’s a good villain. I like his intro scene trying to schmooze the Racer family over pancakes and when he angrily tells Speed what a deluded chump he is.

Some critics have attacked the film for its anti-corporate ownership message and yes, there’s irony considering the studio producing it, but the message is actually about the power of art and the individual, and it’s not aimed at the old cynics in the audience. This is a fucking kid’s film fer Gawd’s sake! I read reviews of SPEED RACER from critics who gushed over the smug and soulless SHREK or ICE AGE or MADAGASCAR or BEE MOVIE and realize many are upset because the film wasn’t snarky enough, or there weren’t any pop cultural references. Hell, you’d think the critics might note there’s not a shred of product placements (and in a movie about auto racing, that’s some kind of miracle) which bolsters the film’s theme. The Wachowski’s have a subversive political nature, and outside its visual style, SPEED RACER’s most revolutionary aspect is that the film was truly made for children, not adults. Robert Rodriguez’s charming SPY KIDS series is similar in that Rodriguez directs with the eyes of a child; SPEED RACER looks like it was directed by a child with LSD eyes.

And here’s where my own disappointment comes in. I immediately accepted the candy coated world of the film, but I found it more Neo-Vegas than Neo-Tokyo. Speed’s famous Mach 5, still one of the coolest car designs in pop culture, should have been a character as well, especially with Rex transfering the car to his brother once he leaves home. I never felt the connection Speed should have had to the Mach 5 and the film if anything, doesn’t fetishize the famous car enough. In fact, all of the car designs are rather uninspired and cluttered, the vehicular equivalent to THE TRANSFORMER’S unintelligble robots. Only Racer X has a sleek, demonic machine, but we don’t get to see enough of it in action. And as for the action, it lacks strong choreography. The cars slide and glide, bounce and jump, but their movement is hampered by the excessive neon glow from the vehicles and landscape. It doesn’t look that different from a Wii game and I wanted more spatial poetry. To that end, the endless floating heads become interminable towards the end, too often cutting across the screen while you’re trying to enjoy the race or action. A little goes a very very long way.

For a movie built on speed, the film is 30 minutes too long. There’s no reason to pad out the story to more than two hours, and while I wasn’t bored, I think the movie should have clocked in at 90 minutes to leave you wanting more, not less. You’re already getting your money’s worth and a film like this I hope does find an audience, as the Wachowski’s are trying to push the edge of cinema into another level. SPEED RACER reminds me a little of Disney’s TRON (1982), another film that was supposed to revolutionize cinema with its computer graphics and video game attitude. But TRON was fairly dopey and SPEED RACER has such an oddball intelligence that it’s hard to ignore its brazen surreality, such as the final moments of the Grand Prix morphing into a psychedelic freak-out that film students will be studying in 2020.

I don’t know what kind of box office this will do but I hope the parents who rewarded banalities such as ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS will let their kids take them to see this. If I was ten and saw this movie, it would be the equivalent of a mental sugar overdose. If there’s another, I hope the Wachowski’s slip it down to 11, instead of jacking it up to 15. In other words, race before you richochet. SPEED RACER has come a long way since its beloved inception in 1967 and I was glad to go along for one more ride.

Plus, there’s a monkey.